Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) statistics

Key messages

As of the end of October 2020, the RAD inventory was just over 7,100 appeals, a decrease of 16% since the beginning of the fiscal year.
The RAD finalized a record 10,850 appeals in Fiscal Year 2019-20 – a 105% increase over the previous fiscal year. From April to October 2020, the RAD finalized 4,217 appeals -- a 6% decrease compared to the same period last year that can be attributed in part to COVID-19 disruptions.
RAD intake in Fiscal Year 2019-20 was 11,650 appeals – an increase of 29% from the previous fiscal year. Between April and October 2020, the RAD received 2,900 appeals, a decrease of 60% compared to the same period last year.

	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	12 Months to October 2020
Allowed	24%	20%	24%	27%
Dismissed	73%	77%	74%	71%
Abandon/Withdrawn	3%	3%	2%	2%

	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	12 Months to October 2020
Received	4,710	4,658	5,939	4,048
Finalized	3,158	3,977	5,303	5,487
Pending	3,680	4,362	4,997	3,871

	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	12 Months to October 2020
Received	1,032	3,679	5,709	3,317
Finalized	124	1,320	5,561	5,113
Pending	908	3,267	3,421	3,228

FY 2019-20 intake was 11,664 appeals, which is 39% higher than the volume received for FY 2018-19. Over that period, irregular intake increased over one-half (52%) while regular intake increased 25%.
Intake over the past 12 months (to Oct 2020) has been in line with assumptions, at approximately 27% of Refugee Protection Division finalizations.

Growth: The pending inventory was at 8,205 at the end of FY 2019-20, having decreased from a high of 10,404 appeals in September 2019. Since between March and October 2020, the inventory has dropped to 7,102 appeals, as finalizations have outpaced intake in the COVID period.
Age: 86% of pending appeals are less than 1 year old as of October 2020.
IBCs: Appeals by irregular border crossers (IBCs) make up 45% of the pending inventory.

All appeals source country	Total appeals pending, October 2020	% of inventory
Top 10 countries	5,072	71%
Nigeria	1,944	27%
Mexico	858	11%
Haiti	596	10%
India	496	7%
Pakistan	343	5%
China	283	4%
Colombia	164	2%
Congo, Democratic Republic	151	2%
Ethiopia	141	2%
Angola	96	2%
Other 124 countries	2030	29%

Regular appeals source country	Regular appeals pending, Aug 2020	% of regular inventory
Top 10 countries	2,557	66%
Mexico	852	22%
India	475	12%
China	301	8%
Nigeria	265	7%
Pakistan	226	6%
Ethiopia	108	3%
Haiti	104	3%
Iran	94	2%
Algeria	69	2%
Congo, Democratic Republic	63	2%
Other 117 countries	1,318	34%
Total	3,875	100%

Irregular appeals Source country	Irregular appeals pending, Aug 2020	% of irregular inventory
Top 10 countries	2,682	83%
Nigeria	1643	51%
Haiti	492	15%
Pakistan	117	4%
Colombia	113	4%
Angola	91	3%
Congo, DR	88	3%
USA	47	1%
Ethiopia	33	1%
Zimbabwe	31	1%
South Africa	27	1%
Other 68 countries	545	17%
Total	3,227	100%

Projected wait times are at approximately 12 months for 2020-21.
New appeals can expect shorter wait times (9 months) because of the recent reduction the backlog
Currently pending appeals will have longer wait times (12 months) due to the impact of COVID-19 on operations
Average processing times over the past 2 years have been maintained at 9 months for the RAD. This is a reflection of a case management approach that involved processing a balance of older and newer cases.
An increased focus on older cases will result in average processing times closer to 12 months in 2020-21.